New Life – Easter Joy

A third artifact located at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg which came on the boats during the immigration is its baptismal tray shown above. As you can see, the tray in inscribed with the date 1838. It can be surmised that this tray was crafted specifically for the trip to America since that is the year the immigrants left Germany to come to America. Our best guess also is that this tray traveled with the group led by Rev. Gotthold Loeber, since it ended up in the Altenburg congregation where he was the first pastor. This tray was used where Trinity first held its church services upstairs in the Loeber parsonage and also later in each of the other two church sanctuaries Trinity has used over the years. Recently, a child was baptized there who was the sixth straight generation of family members to be baptized using this tray.

Through baptism, one has new life in Christ’s family. Our old selves are drowned and a new self arises to live with God. Easter and baptism are good companions because they both are events which a new life rising from the dead. We at the Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum would like to wish all of you a Blessed Easter.

Easter Sunday is one of only a few days during the year when the museum will be closed. We will open again on Monday.